I recently joined Carshare, and have some interesting comments to report...

First, I have to tell you that when I was in college, about a million years ago, I took this course in Utopian Thought, from the famous Socialist Art Pearl at UC Santa Cruz. In this case, we read books like Ecotopia and Erewhon, and wrote papers designing utopian societies. Anyway, my three big ideas were - (1) free and wholistic healthcare for everyone, (2) tear up every other street, and put in neighborhood vegetable gardens, and (3) start carsharing to require fewer automobiles.

So when I saw the first carshare VW bug driving by, it put a warm feeling in my heart. As an experiment, I sold the SUV, and signed up. A few interesting changes in my life. First, the liberal that is buried deep inside this Republican I've become is happier. I feel like I'm using less gas, and making a protest stand. I've written a haiku about this feeling:

what a great idea
use carshare and save the world
one mile at a time

Second, I've noticed that I'm walking more. Instead of getting up late, getting in the car, getting to my meeting in the South Bay in a rush... I find that I tend to get up earlier, walk to the local carshare POD, and instead of getting in... I have a cup of tea or a latte. And when I get back, I usually take a stroll through the boutique street, pick up some groceries at a small local store or deli, and then walk home. Not only is it better physically, but I'm noticing that it feels like I have more time now. The perception of time is so subjective. It really feels like I'm smelling the roses on the walk home. And of course, if I AM in a rush, I just take the bus or grab a taxi.

My lifestyle demands owning an automobile, so this is really more of an experiment than anything else. But what I'm learning is that walking is good, we don't all need cars and if more of us carshared... there'd be more parking in the city, I really like having a cuppajoe at the coffehouse before taking off in the morning to wherever I'm headed.

If you'd like to find out about carsharing in San Francisco, go to www.citycarshare.org.